


The Person You Are Now

by lol-phan-af (lol_phan_af)



Series: retrouvaille [10]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends, First Meetings, Multi, Other, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 07:52:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lol_phan_af/pseuds/lol-phan-af
Summary: "Anyway, back to your relationship issues-""That I never leave my house and also am generally useless when it comes to talking to girls because they're beautiful and I have the resolve of an ice cube?""Right, that."* can be read as a one shot!!





	The Person You Are Now

"This is hideous," Alex commented as he stared at himself in the mirror. The button down shirt was somewhere between just fitting and cutting off circulation to his wrists, and it didn't _look_ wrinkled as much as it _felt_ wrinkled. The jeans looked alright, though, so there was a small victory.   
  
"You look beautiful," Lafayette argued, climbing off their bed and walking behind him, wrapping their arms around his waist. Well, now he looked even worse, compared to them. How rude.   
  
Alex elbowed them. "You've said that for the past three outfits I've shown you."   
  
"And I've been right about every single one." They kissed the corner of his jaw.   
  
"You're too cute for your own good," Alex muttered, turning to face them, burying his face in their chest. "You smell really nice."   
  
"It's lavender."   
  
"I love you." He buried his face further in their chest, glasses digging into the bridge of his nose. He wanted to talk to Eliza again, and this brunch was important to him, but at the same time Lafayette was _right here_ and Alex wanted to keep them this close forever. He never needed to breathe again, it was fine.   
  
Lafayette chuckled, shaking their head as they pulled Alex away from them. "I love you too. Are you okay?"   
  
"I'm stressed out," he cried, turning back around to face the mirror, lenses smudged from Lafayette's skin. "What do I wear to this that doesn't make me look disgusting, or something that makes me look like I actually know what clothes are now and that they don't have to be hideous."   
  
"You haven't shown me a sweater yet," Lafayette pointed out, undoing the buttons of Alex's shirt as they spoke. "That blue one with the longer sleeves that you like to roll up is cute."   
  
"The sky blue one or the navy blue one?"   
  
"Sky."   
  
"Okay, true. Do you know where it is?"   
  
Lafayette kissed the crown of his head and slid the fabric off his shoulders and down his arms. "Sweater drawer, I think."   
  
"After Paris do I even _want_ to go in our sweater drawer?"   
  
"We're already engaged and we live together, unless there's a live child hiding under our clothes, which is dangerous, then I think you're okay."   
  
Alex stared at Lafayette's reflection in the mirror behind him, the soft glow in their eyes, the warmth in their smile as they leaned down to kiss his shoulder. Was there any part of them that Alex didn't love? No. Lafayette walked away and got the sweater out of their drawer, handing him it and kissing his cheek.   
  
"I think you're shrinking," Alex said, pulling the sweater over his head. "You used to have to bend to do that, now it's just leaning." 

Lafayette rolled their eyes. "Maybe, but I think you're going to be late if we stop and discuss it."  
  
"Can't you come with me? Who am I supposed to scream with about how much I'm about to explode?"   
  
"I can drop you off, if you want? Then text me whenever and I'll come back and pick you up?"   
  
Alex tied his hair in a bun and stared at himself in the mirror. He didn't look terrible, no worse than usual, and his skin was _glowing_ from how much sleep he got trying to fight jet lag.   
  
"That would be great, thank you."   
  
"I would do anything for you, love."   
  
Alex shook his head. "Unbelievable."   
  
Eliza remembered Alex when they were dating as being a disorganized mess held together by plans seventy-five percent formed and sheer force of will. He seemed to have his whole life figured out but with no means to do it, but determined enough to find one. His fashion sense was uncoordinated at best, greasy and terrible at worst, and he was thin enough to cut someone with the way his bones jutted out of his skin.   
  
The way Eliza saw Alex now, as he got out of the car after kissing someone, Lafayette most likely, goodbye, seemed to contradict the past Alex completely. He looked healthy now, jeans fitting snug to his body without it being terrifying, soft sweater covering his hands as he slammed the door shut and walked towards her. He seemed less sophisticated now in a good way, brighter, less like he was a walking corpse. How nice.   
  
"Hey, Eliza!" He greeted as he got to the table, accepting the hug Eliza gave him as she stood up. He smelled like lavender and vanilla, a contrast from the coffee and printer ink she forced herself to learn to live with a year and a half ago.   
  
"Alex, hey! How are you?" She sat back down, beckoning Alex to sit in the chair across the table from her. He wasn't wearing the engagement ring from the Instagram photo. Wait, what? Wasn't that a bad sign? Was she overthinking this?   
  
"I'm good! I just got home from Paris like two days ago, so all my time since then has been spent trying to kill my jet lag," he said, and Eliza smiled. "I really didn't think of anything to talk about at this brunch." He fidgeted in his seat, eyes on everything except her.   
  
"It's not like nothing has happened since the last time we saw each other," she told him, and Alex swallowed.   
  
"Right, can we talk about that? I know that's probably why you asked to meet me for brunch." He sat up further in his chair. Eliza laughed, but it was laced with fear.   
  
"Yeah, I saw your Instagram post about you getting engaged, and _holy shit_ , the person you were the day we broke up and the person I saw in that picture were so different, I had to know the person you are now. I don't want to be mad at you forever, Alex, it wouldn't be fair to either of us."   
  
"Thank you, then, for giving me another chance to know you. It means a lot to me that I seem like a person you would want to know now, after fucking up our relationship so much in the past. I was a dick, and I'm still really sorry about it."   
  
"It's okay," she assured, "it was a long time ago, I've gotten over it by now."   
  
"Still, it's no excuse."   
  
"But I'm _over_ it, you really don't have to worry, I promise."   
  
"Thanks," he mumbled, blush dusting across his cheeks. "How have you been, by the way? Sorry for not asking."   
  
"It's fine, there's not really much to say. I'm on break right now, I assume you are too, and I'm just trying to make it back to school before my entire family that's staying at my house murders me." The waiter came over and refilled her mug of coffee, taking Alex's orange juice order and winking as he walked away. Alex looked mortified, not even the slightest bit intrigued by the man flirting with him. Wow, he really had changed.   
  
"Yeah, you told me when we were dating about what your Christmas was like. That would be enough to send me to an early grave, I don't know how you do it."   
  
Eliza took a sip from her mug. "My family understands the struggle and gives me complete access to the wine cellar. It's not something I take lightly, either. How was your Christmas?"   
  
"That's both concerning and amazing," he commented, "but my Christmas was okay. Me and Lafayette just stayed inside, opened presents, ate a gross amount of waffles. Y'know, the usual, I guess." He shrugged, but Eliza knew it meant more to him than that.   
  
She remembered the tweets on his account about spending Christmas alone, and she remembered smiling at him getting what he deserved, feeling bad because he had people to miss and she was stuck missing him with a part of her heart she refused to acknowledge.   
  
"That seems nice. Lafayette sounds wonderful, by the way, with the way you talk about them and from what I've seen of them."   
  
"Thank you! They really are, I love them a lot. We just got back from Paris a few days ago, so a lot of our time since then has been spent sleeping off the jet lag."   
  
"I would love to do that someday, go to France with someone."   
  
Alex smiled. "I'm sure you'd have a wonderful time if you did."   
  
The longer their brunch went on the more Eliza realized exactly _how much_ Alex loved Lafayette, how he talked about them in a way someone could only talk about the love of their life or their first experience eating funnel cake. A smile on his face, bright eyes, and a blush high on his cheeks like a sugar rush. The amount of affection packed into the words he spoke made Eliza want to cry. If he kept talking like this, she would be in love with Lafayette too in a matter of time.   
  
"-and something skitters across the floor, so I go to pick it up and put it back, but then it's the ring, and I can't handle anything anymore, so I just spend like five minutes staring at it" Alex recalled after Eliza asked how Lafayette proposed, hand over his heart.   
  
"Speaking of, where is the ring? I doubt you would ever want to take it off after they proposed, god knows I wouldn't."   
  
"Oh! I don't trust myself to wear it on my hand with how much I lose things, so I put it on a chain and I wear it around my neck," Alex explained, pulling the chain out from under his sweater collar. It looked as beautiful as it did in the picture, although significantly smaller now that it was off Alex's small hand. The stones glimmered in the sunlight and Eliza peered over the table, whistling lowly as she looked.   
  
She sat up. "That's stunning."   
  
"Thanks. I love Lafayette with my entire heart, though, I would've said yes to their proposal even without a ring."   
  
"That's so sweet."   
  
Alex blushed, waved off the compliment with a series a various noises, none of which sounded like words. Eliza missed this, them, being able to talk to each other without feeling like they should be doing something else. Without the demand to be a couple instead of just staying friends. She loved this, wished they stayed this way in the beginning instead of rushing into a relationship like they did.   
  
"Lafayette's asking me how things are going," Alex muttered as he looked down at his phone on the table, smile on his face. Eliza could hear the love in his voice.   
  
"They'd be going better if we weren't currently discussing my lack of dates and romantic relationships," Eliza sighed, setting her panini back down on the table.   
  
"I'll just say they're going great."   
  
Eliza scoffed. "I'm being bullied, and you do this." He acted like he didn't hear and kept typing, but the smile he struggled to push down gave him away.   
  
"Anyway, back to your relationship issues-"   
  
"That I never leave my house and also am generally useless when it comes to talking to girls because they're beautiful and I have the resolve of an ice cube?"   
  
"Right, that. Have you ever considered crying to forget about the pain of how beautiful girls are? It helps."   
  
"I hate you."  
  
"It wouldn't be the first time." He shrugged.  
  
Eliza responded by throwing her extra napkins at him.   
  
**_the Good Sister_ ** _: AUNT GERTRUDE JUST BROKE DADS FAVORITE DECORATIVE PLATE AND NOW ALL THE COUSINS ARE TEAMING UP W/ HER SON AND ATTACKING US WE'VE ALREADY LOCKED ALL THE UPSTAIRS DOORS BUT THEYRE HOLDING THE MAIN BEDROOM HOSTAGE PLEASE COME HOME WE ENEED HELP_ _  
_ _  
_ **_the Good Sister_ ** _: ANGELICA AND JAMES ARE FIST FIGHTING IN THE HALLWAY IM FUCKING A L I V E_ _  
_ _  
_ **_the Good Sister_ ** _: BUT ALSO PLEASE COME HOME WE HAVE MANY MORE COUSINS THAN WE DO SIBLINGS_ _  
_ _  
_ **_the Good Sister_ ** _: EVEN IF WE DO HAVE SEVEN SIBLINGS_ _  
_ _  
_ **_the Good Sister_ ** _: DAD JUST CALLED GERTY SELFISH AND SAID SHE ONLY CARES ABOUT HERSELF AND THE FAMILY MONEY AND ANOTHER PLATE SMASHED AND I THINK THEY BROKE MOMS VANITY  ELIIZJAKHAHAKSDHKAS_ _  
_   
"Oh my god, I have to go?" Eliza said, staring at Angelica's text messages.   
  
"Is everything okay?" Alex stood up with her, eyebrows knit together in confusion and concern.   
  
"I don't know? Read these and tell me if it sounds like someone is going to die in my house soon." She showed him the messages, watching as his eyebrows laid flat before inching further and further up his forehead, eyes getting wider as he read each one.   
  
"Holy shit, go, stop the bleeding." Eliza nodded, rummaging around her purse and dropping a twenty on the table, sprinting down the street. Her house wasn't that far from here, she should be home in a few short minu-   
  
All she saw as she went tumbling towards the ground was a blur of red and a mess of dark brown curls, and then she was on the pavement, pain shooting up her spine. She could feel her skinned elbow and the urgency to stand to get home and save their cousin from Angelica, or rather join her in the fight.   
  
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! That was stupid of me to not look where I was going!" The girl who ran into her frantically gathered her things that fell in their collision, handing Eliza her phone once she noticed it on the ground. The screen somehow managed to stay in one piece. Nice.   
  
Eliza groaned. "You're fine, I wasn't looking either."   
  
"Still," she whispered, appearing in Eliza's line of vision. The pain melted away almost instantly, replaced with the thumping of her heart in her ears and the blush spread across her cheeks. "If I was looking, I could have avoided you entirely and this wouldn't have happened."   
  
If Eliza had the resolve of an ice cube, then this girl was a warm August afternoon.   
  
"Don't be so hard on yourself, it really was my fault too. I'm Eliza, by the way." She sat up and held out her hand, had to do everything in her power not to audibly gasp when the girl took it and smiled.   
  
"Maria Re-" She blinked. "Lewis. Maria Lewis."   
  
"Nice to meet you."   
  
"I'm still really sorry. I can help you with your skinned elbow, though, if you want?"   
  
Eliza nodded. "Sure, thank you."  
  
She would definitely late getting home, and a small portion of her family might be injured by the time she got there, but as Maria led her to a bench at the side of a building and pulled a mini first aid kit from her bag, she found that she didn't care.   
  
Hopefully Angelica and Peggy are spared, though, she would hate to go home and have nobody to scream with about this. 

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: lol-phan-af!!
> 
> I want chocolate ice cream oh my god


End file.
